spiritual self-care
Spiritual Practices To Improve Your Mental Health
Mental health has become a critical focus for many in recent years. While traditional methods such as counseling, therapy, and medication are essential in addressing mental health issues, the mental health benefits of spirituality are often overlooked.
Everyone’s mental well-being is affected at some point by the challenges of modern life. It is common to feel out of balance when our world seems to be spinning out of control, or when it seems that we are not getting the things we most want in our lives.
Most people don’t realize that spiritual connection is essential to our mental health and facilitates well-being on all levels. Because mental health issues have such a low and heavy vibration, they make it difficult and sometimes impossible to feel the presence of God, Source, Spirit, the Divine in our lives.
But by working daily to establish a strong connection with your spirit guides and higher source, you are taking a powerful step toward freeing yourself from the grip of these inner demons and dark energies.
Spirituality in its various forms is a powerful way to connect with yourself and the world, fostering a deeper sense of inner peace and purpose for a more balanced and fulfilling life. Research clearly shows that various spiritual practices can significantly improve mental health. These practices offer complementary benefits to traditional mental health treatments, promoting emotional resilience, stress reduction, and overall psychological well-being.
Personally, I have found that spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and journaling give me greater access to guidance and support from the spirit realm and my guides. Our guides are a wonderful source of healing, guidance, and direction. Getting in touch with our guides can actually help us get out of a funk because they have the ability to set us free and empower us on every level.
The Seven Angels Of The Planetary Week
If you are reading this, you are probably familiar with the idea that the angelic realm watches over us. Angels are divine beings who constantly protect, guide, and support humanity.
Each of us has a guardian angel assigned to us at birth, who remains by our side throughout our lives, providing constant protection and guidance.
While guardian angels have a more intimate and personal role in our lives, archangels oversee broader aspects of our existence and can provide specialized support, guidance, and assistance. For example, Michael offers protection, Raphael provides healing, and Gabriel helps us communicate.
It is often assumed that archangels are a purely Christian concept, when in fact they are deeply rooted in various religious, mystical, and cultural traditions. Our modern knowledge of the archangels can be traced back through a complex interplay of mythology, theology, and mysticism across many civilizations and time periods.
Early accounts of such powerful celestial beings can be found, for example, in the mythologies of Mesopotamia and Canaan. These cultures had divine messengers who can be seen as precursors to the concept of archangels. One of the clearest early influences on the development of archangelic figures can be found in Zoroastrianism. The Amesha Spentas, or “Holy Immortals,” are divine beings who serve Ahura Mazda, the Supreme God. These beings resemble later archangelic figures in their roles and attributes.
What is also not commonly known about the archangels is that each day of the week is traditionally associated with a specific angel. This tradition is rooted in a fascinating blend of ancient astronomy, mythology, and religious mysticism, including Kabbalistic teachings, Christian mysticism, and angelology. It is the result of associating the days of the week with the seven classical planets, which in turn are traditionally associated with seven archangels.
Is Your ‘Friend’ A Toxic Energy Thief?
Do you have a friend who constantly makes you feel unbalanced and drained, while adding no value to your life? We’ve all had that so-called ‘friend’ who doesn’t seem to care much about our well-being. Sometimes they don’t even seem to like us at all!
They are that fair-weather friend who drains your energy and constantly exhibits toxic behaviors that destroy your inner peace, steal your joy, and disrupt your spiritual balance. Interacting with them increases your stress or anxiety, and even triggers a sense of disconnection from your true self.
If you have such a “friend,” consider this a serious wake-up call. After all, with a friend like that, who needs enemies? And if you have more than one such friend, consider this an urgent intervention!
The truth is that having an energy vampire masquerading as a friend in your life poses significant spiritual dangers and negative effects on your overall health and well-being.
Constant interaction with someone who is unkind and unsupportive hinders your personal and spiritual growth. Instead of uplifting and encouraging you, they serve only to hold you back and may even discourage you from pursuing your dreams. These people are not your friends.
It reminds me of the karate classes I used to take. We were taught to have ‘situational awareness.’ In karate, this refers to being fully aware of your surroundings, including potential threats, opportunities, and obstacles during training, sparring, or self-defense scenarios. It involves being mentally present and observing the environment, the opponent, and any relevant factors that could affect the outcome of a situation.
Using Essential Oils To Enhance Your Psychic Awareness
Essential oils have many esoteric uses beyond traditional aromatherapy. In fact, many experienced spiritual seekers use essential oils in their daily practices. But what is less well known is that these magical oils can also be used to enhance intuition and promote psychic awareness.
Aromatic substances also help increase focus and clarity during meditation, divination, energy healing, and psychic reading. By engaging the sense of smell, you can more effectively anchor your awareness in the present moment, reduce distractions, and promote a state of mindfulness or psychic attunement to open your channels of intuition. I also feel more attuned to subtle energies and spirit presences when I use aromatherapy in my psychic work.
Essential oils are a wonderful spiritual tool that promote relaxation, mental clarity and emotional balance, which in turn creates a conducive environment for exploring your intuition and inner awareness.
Smell is closely linked to the limbic system in the brain, which is associated with emotions, memories, and instinctual responses. When we encounter a particular scent, it can evoke strong emotional or subconscious reactions. In spiritual practices, certain scents can trigger deep-seated feelings or associations, helping to create a particular mental or emotional state conducive to psychic experiences.
Overall, the power of scent and aroma in spiritual and esoteric practices is multifaceted, involving a combination of sensory, psychological, cultural, and symbolic factors. Aromas serve as powerful tools for creating sacred spaces, enhancing psychic experiences, and facilitating inner transformation through their profound influence on the mind, body, and spirit.
Substance Abuse Destroys Relationships And Families
We all put a lot of time, effort, and resources into our relationships. From dating to marriage and parenthood, each stage comes with its own mix of joys and challenges. But amidst these milestones, it’s natural to ask: Is our relationship nurturing our spiritual well-being?
Think about the impact your partner has on your mental health and spiritual well-being. Is your relationship deepening your connection with God, Source, Spirit, or the Divine? Is it nurturing and protecting your children and loved ones? Or do you feel a subtle drift away from what really matters?
It’s a common scenario — an intimate relationship starts to fade as priorities shift. Maybe your partner chooses time with friends over quality family moments. Perhaps hobbies or habits take over, eroding intimacy and trust.
This isn’t just a personal story; it’s a broader reality with serious consequences. Children left wondering where a missing parent is, while the other struggles alone as a single parent, trying to juggle too much. This absence of care and nurture affects children’s personal and spiritual growth, leaving lasting echoes into their adulthood.
Alcohol and drug abuse often sneak into many of these situations, silently corroding relationships and families from within. In my spiritual work, I’ve met many souls grappling with failing marriages and domestic chaos overshadowed by substance abuse and addiction.
If you’re stuck in such a relationship, ask yourself why you’re staying. Love shouldn’t coexist with self-destruction. If your partner’s commitment wavers, consider where your spiritual path meets theirs. Sometimes, the toughest choices lead to healing.
The Meditative Art Of Sumi-e Painting
As a spiritual advisor and artist, I’ve always been drawn to the ways in which art and spirituality intersect to offer pathways to deeper self-awareness and tranquility.
One such path that has had a profound impact on my life is Sumi-e painting, also known as suibokuga or ‘ink wash painting.’ It is a traditional Japanese painting technique that uses black ink, typically in varying concentrations, to create brushstroke-based works of art.
Sumi-e is characterized by its minimalism, simplicity, and emphasis on capturing the essence or spirit of the subject rather than its literal representation.
Paintings often feature subjects such as landscapes, flowers, birds and other natural elements. Artists use various brush techniques to create different textures, tones, and depths using only black ink on absorbent paper or silk.
The art form has deep roots in Zen Buddhism, which emphasizes spontaneity, simplicity, and harmony with nature. Practitioners often meditate before painting to cultivate a clear and focused mind, which they believe enhances their ability to express the essence of the subject.
Sumi-e painting has had a significant influence on various art forms, including calligraphy and other East Asian brush painting styles. It continues to be practiced and appreciated for its timeless elegance and ability to evoke profound emotions with seemingly simple brush strokes.
Grieving The Loss Of Loved Ones With Grace
Few of us have not experienced the loss of a loved one, a parent, a partner or even a child. Most of us have also witnessed or experienced the many ways in which people try to cope with such an insurmountable loss.
Coping with the huge gaping hole that such a loss leaves in our lives can have a negative impact on people’s behaviour. Some turn to extremes: alcohol, drug abuse, overeating, prescription drugs, or any of the other things people use to numb their pain and deflect the overwhelming feelings associated with loss and grief.
What we ultimately learn is that there is no set time frame in which such profound pain can be dealt with. It can take weeks, months, years or even decades for some. But even when the worst is over, we never really get over the sense of loss. We simply learn to cope and get on with our lives, forever changed, as best we can.
However, the greatest tribute we can pay the loved ones we have lost is to grieve with grace and dignity. Abusing substances or indulging in other distractions may temporarily numb our pain, but how does that honour the memory of the one we professed to care so much about? It also does not allow us to confront and process our emotions in a healthy and constructive manner. Grieving is natural and necessary. When we try to avoid our grief, we miss out on opportunities for personal growth, self-reflection, and ultimately finding peace with the loss.